Method and System for Providing Adaptive Modulation and Coding in a Multi-Carrier Wireless Network

1. A method of providing adaptive modulation and coding in a multi-carrier wireless network comprising a plurality of subscriber stations, comprising: for each of the subscriber stations, receiving a signal-to-interference-plus-noise (SINR) variance from the subscriber station; and for each of the subscriber stations, selecting a type of modulation and a coding rate based on the SINR variance.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1 , selecting a type of modulation and a coding rate based on the SINR variance comprising selecting a type of modulation and a coding rate based on a standard deviation of the SINR.

3. The method as set forth in claim 1 , selecting a type of modulation and a coding rate based on the SINR variance comprising selecting a type of modulation and a coding rate based on a difference between a mean SINR and an effective SINR.

4. The method as set forth in claim 1 , selecting a type of modulation and a coding rate based on the SINR variance comprising selecting a type of modulation and a coding rate based on a transmission mode for the subscriber station.

5. The method as set forth in claim 1 , further comprising, for each of the subscriber stations, classifying the SINR variance as one of low and high.

6. The method as set forth in claim 5 , further comprising, for each of the subscriber stations, selecting a high coding rate threshold when the SINR variance is classified as low and selecting a low coding rate threshold when the SINR variance is classified as high.

7. The method as set forth in claim 1 , further comprising, for each of the subscriber stations, selecting a coding rate threshold based on the SINR variance.

8. The method as set forth in claim 1 , further comprising, for each of the subscriber stations, estimating the SINR variance based on at least one SINR parameter.

9. The method as set forth in claim 8 , the at least one SINR parameter comprising at least one of Doppler, delay spread and antenna correlation.

10. The method as set forth in claim 8 , further comprising, for each of the subscriber stations, estimating the at least one SINR parameter based on uplink measurements.

11. A method of providing adaptive modulation and coding in a multi-carrier wireless network comprising a plurality of subscriber stations, comprising: for each of the subscriber stations, selecting a type of modulation and a coding rate based on a transmission mode and a signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) variance for the subscriber station, and selecting a coding rate threshold based on the transmission mode, the transmission mode comprising one of localized mode and distributed mode, the localized mode comprises a contiguous set of subcarriers allocated for transmission and the distributed mode comprises a distributed set of subcarriers allocated for transmission.

12. The method as set forth in claim 11 , further comprising, for each of the subscriber stations, selecting the transmission mode based on a speed of the subscriber station.

13. The method as set forth in claim 12 , the transmission mode comprising localized when a speed of the subscriber station is low and distributed when a speed of the subscriber station is high.

14. The method as set forth in claim 11 , further comprising, for each of the subscriber stations, selecting a high coding rate threshold when the transmission mode is localized and selecting a low coding rate threshold when the transmission mode is distributed.

15. For use in a multi-carrier wireless network, a base station capable of providing adaptive modulation and coding for a plurality of subscriber stations, the base station comprising an adaptive modulation and coding (AMC) unit operable, for each of the subscriber stations, to receive a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ration (SINR) variance from the subscriber station, and select a type of modulation and a coding rate based on the SINR variance.

16. The base station as set forth in claim 15 , the AMC unit comprising an SINR variance classifier operable, for each of the subscriber stations, to classify the SINR variance as one of low and high.

17. The base station as set forth in claim 16 , the AMC unit further operable, for each of the subscriber stations, to select a high coding rate threshold when the SINR variance classifier classifies the SINR variance as low and to select a low coding rate threshold when the SINR variance classifier classifies the SINR variance as high.

18. The base station as set forth in claim 15 , the AMC unit further operable, for each of the subscriber stations, to select a coding rate threshold based on the SINR variance.

19. The base station as set forth in claim 15 , the AMC unit comprising an SINR variance estimator operable, for each of the subscriber stations, to estimate the SINR variance based on at least one SINR parameter.

20. The base station as set forth in claim 19 , the at least one SINR parameter comprising at least one of Doppler, delay spread and antenna correlation.

21. The base station as set forth in claim 19 , the AMC unit further comprising an SINR parameters estimator operable, for each of the subscriber stations, to estimate the at least one SINR parameter based on uplink measurements.

22. The base station as set forth in claim 15 , the AMC unit comprising a transmission mode selector operable, for each of the subscriber stations, to select a transmission mode for the subscriber station based on a speed of the subscriber station, the AMC unit operable to select a type of modulation and a coding rate based on the SINR variance by selecting a type of modulation and a coding rate based on the transmission mode for the subscriber station.

23. The base station as set forth in claim 22 , the transmission mode comprising one of localized and distributed.